Celebrity - soft drinks on board
 

I heard some where that you can buy an "unlimited soft drink" card on board the ship. I understood it to be about $35.00. Does anyone know about this? We are booked on Celebrity Summit for a southbound cruise.<BR>

In February we sailed on the Infinity and bought the unlimited soft drink service. It was a sticker affixed to your key card, good for fountain (not canned) soft drinks. The price was around $4.50 per day, paid in advance.<BR><BR>It worked fine, although we saw some resistance on the part of the waitstaff because, there being no chit to sign, there was no place for the tip to be credited to that server. <BR><BR>We bought the sticker at the coffee bar. The notice that it was available was buried in the first edition of the ship newsletter.

Thanks for your reply. Did you feel it was worth the 4.50 per day? How much is a soft drink if you buy it? Do they expect you to tip the waiter for just a soft drink?

The cans were 2 bucks plus tip so around 3 per day was the breakeven. The tip is included on the chit. The fountain drinks yield fewer ounces per glass, so you need to order more of them to get to the equivalent dose. The soda sticker doesn't work in the casino or cigar bar, I seem to recall. <BR><BR>As far as tipping goes, you tip for everything, whether you know it or not. It's only fair - query some of your servers on wage and working conditions on the ships.

I wanted to top this thread since I have been ALL over my Celebrity brochure (for Alaska) and their website and I can find nothing about a drink card.<BR><BR>Is this something that is advertised once you get on board? John indicates that it was a one time thing...so if you don't act on it if/when they offer it...you lose the opportunity to purchase?<BR><BR>Thanks<BR><BR>S

We've done two Celebrity cruises, but those soft drink cards were offered only for kids and teens. That may have changed since our last Celebrity cruise was in April of 2001. Princess has staff stationed all around the ship on the first day or two for sign up. You just charge it to your room key on the first day and get all the fountain sodas you want, including the casino bar. We thought it was totally worth it since I don't drink coffee, but like some caffeine in the morning, and my husband doesn't drink alcohol.

When we sailed the ONLY place we saw the soda sticker mentioned was in the daily news sheet left in our cabin on the first day, and it was buried in the text. The sticker was good for anyone, but it required you prepay for the entire cruise (i.e., $4.50 x 7 for a week cruise.) If you missed getting it the first day you evidently still had to pay for 7 days (duh) with a corresponding reduction in savings. <BR><BR>We found it wasn't especially welcomed by the waitstaff, presumably since they didn't give you a chit on which you would add the tip, hence it wasn't clear if they got any benefit from serving you.

Thanks! I will stop searching for it on the website, etc. If the cruise offers it...I would think the staff would have to deal with the chit (or lack thereof) <BR><BR>S

I'm cruising on the Constellation this fall, and find the $35 price tag exceptionally high. We did 2 cruises last year, one on Princess and one on Holland America. They both had unlimited soda stickers - Princess at $17.50 and Holland America at $20 for the 7 day cruise. Both stated that the price of the sticker INCLUDED tip (i.e. Princess itemized the price on my shipboard account as $15.00 soda sticker + $2.50 tip). Both cruise lines had advertising signs at each bar (and in the daily newspapers), and offered proportionally reduced prices as the trip progressed. I didn't notice any negative vibes from the bar staff (as I had "pre-tipped" in the purchase price).<BR><BR>The only difference that I noticed was that if you bought a soda "a la carte", you were given it from a can. With the soda sticker, it was poured from a soda fountain. I know some people find soda fountain drinks not as consistent as from a can.<BR><BR>Anyway, Celebrity's soda sticker sounds like a rip-off, but I guess every cruise line has their weaknesses.

I just got off a Holland America cruise, the soda card for adults on the 7 day cruise was around $30, $20 was for children, under the age of 18. We thought it was well worth it for our kids to have these cards, made it so much easier. Holland America doesn't include tips on anything, so if you want to tip, you need to carry around $$ with you or you can tip at the end of the cruise. The price of the soda card does not cover any type of any kind on Holland America.

Have just come back from the Constellation. Drink the lemonade - it's free!!